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Canada PM Harper dissolves Parliament

OTTAWA, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, saying the nation's voters will "choose the way forward," dissolved Parliament Sunday and set an Oct. 14 election.

Harper met Sunday in Ottawa with Gov. General Michaelle Jean and emerged from Rideau Hall to announce she had "seen fit to dissolve Parliament," the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Harper, when asked whom he thought would win the election, told the CBC, "We believe it is going to be a tough election. We believe it will be a tight election. And, yes, we believe in all likelihood it will be a minority."

Liberal leader Stephane Dion said the election would mark the most "crucial" campaign in Canadian election history. The broadcaster said his plan would impose $15.4 billion in new taxes on high-carbon producing Canadian industries, with higher consumer prices to be offset by broad-based tax cuts.

Harper, however, took direct aim at Dion's carbon-tax proposal, saying, "This tax will pack a cost on to every expenditure every family and every business makes."

Charges sought for Israeli PM Olmert

JERUSALEM, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Israeli police said Sunday they're recommending corruption charges against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the so-called Talansky Affair.

Police issued a formal statement Sunday evening in which they also recommended the state indict Olmert in a second case, referred to as the 'Rishon Tours' affair, but said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges in the Investment Center scandal, the Israeli Web site Ynetnews.com reported.

The ultimate decision to indict Olmert now rests with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, the Web site said. Olmert's attorneys reportedly responded to the police's recommendation by saying the decision was "meaningless."

Top police investigators have been holding consecutive sessions on the matter since last Thursday, the Web site said.

Olmert spokesman Amir Dan said earlier in the day the prime minister's legal team "would not be surprised by the police's decision. They have no choice but to recommend an indictment -- they have to justify bringing down an acting prime minister," he said.

The police recommendation comes 18 months after officials first determined there was sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation into Olmert's financial dealings.

MPLA declares victory in Angola elections

LUANDA, Angola, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Angola's ruling party declared victory in a landslide Sunday in the south-central African country's first parliamentary election in 16 years.

The MPLA party, or the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, received more than 80 percent of the vote with nearly 80 percent of the votes counted in the two-day poll.

MPLA has ruled Angola since the former Portuguese colony's 1975 independence.

The closest opposition party, Unita, or the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, received about 10 percent, unofficial results indicated.

A total of 14 parties took part in the election.

The official vote tally is expected within 10 days.

Unita leader Isaias Samakuva said his party had filed a protest with the Electoral Commission over what he said were numerous flaws in the election. He said the election results might not accurately reflect the will of the people.

The Plataforma network of Angolan observer groups recorded six incidents of violence or intimidation and more than 400 other irregularities, mostly due to a lack of voting materials, but was generally satisfied with the voting, Voice of America reported.

Observers from the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community also expressed general satisfaction with the process despite the complaints, VOA reported.

Tree clearing occurs despite protest

BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Thirty-five redwoods have been cut down on University of California-Berkeley property despite an ongoing protest against their removal, officials say.

A university spokesman said while four protesters continued their 21-month-long protest from one tree, workers cut down 35 of the 42 redwoods in the campus grove, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.

Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said with so many of the trees now gone and a state appellate court rejecting construction delay requests, the demonstration is now "pointless."

"With the trees gone, the protest is completely pointless," Mogulof said following Saturday's tree removal. "We believe the reality of the legal situation will sink in and they'll come down voluntarily."

While university officials had no plans to use force to remove the protesters, they were to remove the tree stumps to begin making room for a $124 million athletic training center.

"They're not holding us back," Mogulof told the Chronicle. "They're not stopping us from doing what we need to do."